5-hmC Sequencing on a BudgetOctober 30, 2012Whether you’re the head of a lab, household, or leading a country, budgets are a reality. Like those old jeans you can’t seem to donate, they seem to get tighter every year. So when slick, new methods surface that tackle some tough challenges like single nucleotide resolution 5-hmC profiling, researchers’ excitement is quickly tempered by […]
Three Ways to Get Intimate with Epigenetic MarksOctober 24, 2012The days of dealing with regional estimates of epigenetic marks like histone modifications and DNA methylation are just about behind us. That’s right, the maps that lie ahead will be less Thomas Guide and more GPS. Drs. Gabriel Zentner and Steve Henikoff recently took some time off from being all-star cancer researchers and pulled together […]
Epigenetic Regulators (miRNAs, lncRNAs) Get Regulated EpigeneticallyOctober 20, 2012With Halloween coming up, perhaps it is fitting that the authors of two recent papers describe a “tangled web” of epigenetic regulations. In one paper, researchers suggest that DNA methylation and perhaps other epigenetic modifications disrupt long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) activity. In the other paper, a different team shows that DNAm messes with the miRNA […]
DNA Hypermethylation of CpG Islands Doesn’t Contribute to Cancer Progression?October 9, 2012And in another example of turning conventional wisdom on its head, researchers from Scotland report that aberrant DNA hypermethylation of CpG island (CGI) promoters does not contribute to cancer development via silencing. Generally, those genes are already repressed before cancer even starts. Researchers have noticed for a long time that many genes’ CGI promoters are […]
DNA Methylation Spreads its Wings…RarelyOctober 9, 2012Transposable elements are a common mover and shaker in our genomes. Much like your obnoxious friend that you have to keep close tabs on at dinner parties, they’re usually kept under wraps by fancy host silencing mechanisms like DNA methylation. There’s been some evidence that suggests that the DNA methylation that silences transposable elements can […]
Hypomethylated DNA Repeats Surface in Damaged HeartsOctober 9, 2012Repetition may help the brain learn, but it can be rough on the heart. Researchers in Cambridge, U.K. have found that DNA repeats in damaged hearts are hypomethylated, and that’s associated with increased transcription. In research they published last year, the team did the first whole-genome analysis of differential DNA methylation in so-called “end-stage cardiomyopathic […]
Conserved DNA Methylation Changes from Early Childhood ExperiencesOctober 9, 2012Our brains might not recall our early years, but increasing evidence supports that our methylomes just might. A few studies have shown that cuddles from mama rats—or a lack thereof—are known to affect their offspring’s long-term health and behavior by changing the brain’s DNA methylation patterns over a large scale. Now, a Canadian research effort […]
New Apps: Interactive Epigenomic Data Browser and DNAm Data ToolkitsOctober 4, 2012Apple may have bombed their latest Maps integration, but the Epigenome mapping consortia out there are making it look easy by pumping out datasets by the server full. So it only makes sense that there needs to be robust software to help researchers make sense of it all. Two new papers in Genome Biology offer […]
Webinar: Early Life Determinants of Mental Health – Epigenomic Mechanisms with Dr. Patrick McGowanOctober 3, 2012Dr. Patrick McGowan discusses the impact early-life events can have on our epigenomes in this recorded webinar. This webinar is brought to you with support from Porvair Filtration Group. Check out their line of innovative ChIP kits and reagents at chromatrap.com Abstract Human epidemiological studies and studies of animal models provide many examples by which […]
Webinar: Epigenetics of Autism – The Interface Between Genetic and Environmental Risks with Dr. Janine LaSalleOctober 3, 2012Dr. Janine LaSalle discusses some of the potential epigenetics mechanisms involved in autism spectrum disorders in this recorded webinar. This webinar is brought to you with support from Porvair Filtration Group. Check out their line of innovative ChIP kits and reagents at chromatrap.com Epigenetics of Autism Autism is an increasingly common disorder of complex etiology, […]